Managers trained on health, safety in Tema

Employers have been tasked to ensure workers embrace the culture of occupational health and safety at the workplace to reduce risks associated with industrial accidents.

According to a safety expert, Mr Kofi Poku, about 70 per cent of accidents in the workplace occurred mostly because people were untrained, unskilled, unaware and under resourced as far as health and safety systems in the workplace were concerned.

“Effective leadership is critical, so if leaders are able to embrace the safety agenda and lead the efforts across the overall organisation, productivity will improve,” Mr Poku stated.

Employers and employees, he pointed out, ought to voluntarily embrace the culture of compliance with occupational health and safety guidelines.

Mr Poku, who is also the Managing Director of GEP Consultants Limited, told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of a one-day workshop on health and safety for safety managers drawn from selected institutions in the Tema metropolis that organisational leaders ought to act as safety role models.

Participants

The over 50 participants were drawn from the Volta River Authority (VRA), Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), hotels, timber construction firms, packaging companies and health institutions.

The workshop was put together by Korsika Energy Research and Services Ltd (KERSL), an automation systems developer and GEP Consultants.

It was aimed at upgrading the skills of participants, some of whom are engineers and technicians in their organisations.

Mr Poku was of the view that employers had a critical role to play in ensuring the safety of their members of staff at the workplace, stressing that the neglect of health and safety issues could have dire consequences within the organisation’s setup which could as well impact on its profitability.

He added that employers were mandated to oblige with regulations on the supply and maintenance of safety appliances and personal protective equipment (PPEs) at no cost to the worker.

He stressed the need for workers to also take workplace safety serious since they had a critical role to play in building a record of minimal or no form of accidents within the organisation.

Workplace safety

The President of Korsika Energy Research and Services Ltd, Dr Kofi Korsah, for his part, said as the country sought to improve the well-being of its people through industrialisation, workplace safety ought to be key on that agenda.

He noted that the introduction and use of home-grown technology was key in the government’s effort to achieve the goal of “Ghana Beyond Aid.”

Dr Korsah also stressed the need to develop the country’s skilled labour force which, he said, could be a driving force behind the industrialisation agenda.